Two goals inside the opening five minutes from Deon Hotto and Vincent Pule guided Orlando Pirates to a 2-0 win over Cape Town City in their DStv Premiership encounter on Tuesday evening.

Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer made three changes to his starting XI from the Nedbank Cup win over Uthongathi, as Vincent Pule, Paseka Mako and Fortune Makaringe were all recalled while City were bolstered by return from injury of Bradley Ralani.

The Sea Robbers, who have been struggling for goals with their strikers injured, got off to a perfect start as, with just 45 seconds gone, Hotto put the ball into the City net. The Namibian finished coolly after a long ball over the high City defence by Thabang Monare.

Things got even better for the Buccaneers when Pule doubled their lead just four minutes later when he tapped home at the front post after being picked out by a Thembinkosi Lorch cross. Again, the high line of the City defence proving costly.

The home side continued to apply pressure and could have been out of sight with 20 minutes gone when Pule picked out Lorch in the 18-yard-box, but the winger was denied by the sprawling Peter Leeuwenburgh who kept the Citizens in the game.

A clash of heads between Siphesihle Ndlovu and Monare, where the latter had to be eventually replaced by Linda Mntambo, caused a long stoppage at the end of the half as the sides went into the interval with Pirates 2-0 up.

Zinnbauer’s charges started the second half well and could have been 3-0 up when Fortune Makaringe slipped in Hotto. The latter, however, failed to gather the ball properly and allowed the City defence to get back and block the chance.

City finally began to start playing their brand of football and threatened the Pirates goal through Thato Mokeke and Bradley Rulani, but neither could finish off their chances.

The Soweto giants remained threatening on the counter, but due to wasteful finishing they were unable to add to the scoreline.

With the final score 2-0, Pirates earned a confidence-boosting win.